Should Palace avoid defeat in both legs of their UEFA Conference League play-off against Norwegian club Fredrikstad, and again on Sunday when they host Nottingham Forest, then they will equal their club record of 13 games unbeaten in all competitions while a top-flight side.
Palace have an outstanding starting XI and a manager who has
proven not only to be adept at bringing the best out of his team in his system,
but also relatively adaptable within that system. With appropriate additions to
replace any departures and strengthen the backup options, this Palace side
surely could compete for a place in Europe via their league position. This feels like a club at a crossroads and
the fear will be that success is not built upon.
The worry is that, if Glasner does not feel he is being
sufficiently backed, he might well depart next summer when his contract expires
— if not before. It would be a travesty to throw away the chance to push
on.
As always, some people will argue that demanding more is
unreasonable, that Palace are already punching above their weight. Those
arguments are valid in some respects, but if aspiring to be better is frowned
upon and played down with excuses or reasons why that is difficult — it
is not impossible — then Palace don’t deserve a manager of
Glasner’s calibre or players with Eze and Guehi’s ability. If that attitude
becomes pervasive, Palace will struggle to improve on their current situation.
There are constraints within which Palace must work — having
lost almost £200million over the past five years there is not huge scope for
hefty outlays in the transfer market — but they have shown in the past the
ability to make shrewd purchases. It is how they came to be in a situation
where several of their players have become so coveted in the first place.
Glasner has transformed Palace. He must be adequately
supported as far as the club’s situation allows, otherwise there is surely a
good chance he will not stay beyond his current contract.
A fan commented: ‘I know Parish doesn’t have the money but it
would be really nice if Harris, Biltzer and or Johnson invested some money for
transfers in the way textor did. Although textor is a bit of a charlatan his
willingness to invest (other peoples) cash took the club forward and it always
feels like the others are too cheap and view palace solely as a vehicle for
capital gains.’
Another fan commented: ‘I think they are looking to grow the
value of the business, ultimately selling the shares for much more than they
paid for them. Which is good, but investments can go down as well as up, and
football club values can go down a long way very quickly. Palace are in a
position where a large investment - new stand and a net addition of a couple of
quality players - could pay off handsomely in the medium to long term. The alternative
of trying to muddle along without spending much money will cause the share
price to stagnate at best. Football clubs do need a continual supply of cash,
and you don’t get your money back through dividends (unless your name is
Glazier), you get it through driving up the share price and ultimately selling.
Easy for me as a fan to say our owners need to spend more, but I think it
really is true at the moment.’
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